University Libraries staff and faculty news

Category Archives: Dean’s Doings

by Barbara I. Dewey, dean, University Libraries and Scholarly Communications

Colleagues, now that the associate deans are all here I want to update you on what is happening with former Associate Dean Lisa German’s portfolio. You might recall that it was developed at the same time as the descriptions of the other associate deans’ responsibilities but never fully put into place because of her departure to University of Houston. This updated configuration of the organization’s administration is based on the principles of collective and collaborative leadership. What does this mean? It means we recognize that all areas of the libraries are connected, some in very strong ways. The associate deans communicate and make decisions together on appropriate topics and take collective responsibility for these decisions. The associate deans are open and available to all in the organization.

I consulted with associate deans, administrators and affected department heads, considered the associate deans’ areas of experience and expertise and put into place the following which means we will not hire a fourth associate dean:

I am grateful to Ann Snowman who has agreed to lead Commonwealth outreach, staff
training/development planning, and Hathi Trust efforts and Chris Avery who has agreed to lead library global initiatives and serve as senior faculty for development.

There are a few areas within the organization that need more discussion and thinking before they are assigned but I can assure you that work is ongoing for these areas. Please let me or one of the administrators know if you have any questions or concerns about the plan so far. Best, Barbara

By Barbara I. Dewey, dean, University Libraries and Scholarly Communications

I was at the Association for Research Libraries last week and Penn State was recognized and congratulated because the Penn State Faculty Senate passed the Resolution for Open Access to Scholarly Publications submitted by Galen Grimes, associate professor, Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State Greater Allegheny, and chair, Faculty Senate Library, Information Systems, and Technology (LIST) Committee, on April 28, 2015. This is an important milestone for Penn State and it would not have happened without leadership from the Libraries. Congratulations to everyone who worked on this and especially for the leadership of Linda Friend, Patricia Hswe and Tom Reinsfelder at the LIST meetings during this past year. Many thanks also to Mike Furlough who began the discussions and wrote a forensic report on open access for the Senate in 2013. Other work done by many of you has happened as well to support this effort over the years.

Tim Pyatt was recognized at the Association for Research Libraries (ARL) Meeting last week as a graduate of the ARL Fellows Program. Congratulations to Tim.

Alexia Hudson-Ward completed the CIC Academic Leadership Program (ALP) which is designed to develop the leadership and managerial skills of faculty on the 15 CIC campuses who have demonstrated exceptional ability and administrative promise. Congratulations to Alexia.

Binh P. Le has been selected to participate in Penn State’s Administrative Fellows Program. The Fellows Program provides professional development opportunities for faculty and staff. Fellows serve under the mentorship of a senior level administrator. Binh’s mentor will be Provost Nick Jones.

All of you know that Lisa German has accepted the position of Dean of Libraries and Elizabeth D. Rockwell Chair for the University Libraries at the University of Houston. Fortunately she will be with us until near the end of July and Anne Langley will begin around that time. I will be discussing Lisa’s portfolio with administrators, DLC, key department heads and others soon to determine next steps and timelines.

We have an additional candidate interviewing for the position of Associate Dean for Technology and Digital Strategies. He is Michael Winkler, Director of Strategic Initiatives, University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Winkler will be giving a forum on Monday, May 11, 2015, at 9 a.m. in Foster Auditorium and via Media Site Live. Please participate if you can.

By Barbara I. Dewey, dean, University Libraries and Scholarly Communications

Thanks everyone for your participation in the AD search which is ongoing. We are also hosting Dr. Jon E. Cawthorne, dean of Libraries, West Virginia University, who will be speaking at my Dean’s Forum on April 21, at 1:30 p.m., in Foster Auditorium (and on MediaSite Live). The title of his talk is “Beyond Our Walls: The 21st Century West Virginia University Libraries.” He has been at WVU for about one year. During his visit to Penn State he will have meetings with library administrators, Libraries’ strategic planning groups, resident librarians and representatives from the Diversity Committee.

Two of our outstanding librarians received or will be receiving university-wide awards. Dawn Amsberry, associate librarian, Library Learning Services, received the Faculty Diversity Recognition Award given at the 24th Annual Diversity Recognition Event sponsored by the Multicultural Resource Center and the Penn State Alumni Association. Diane Zabel, Louis and Virginia Benzak Librarian and head, Schreyer Business Library, is receiving The President’s Award for Engagement with Students at this week’s 2015 Faculty/Staff Award luncheon. Congratulations to Diane and Dawn.

Speaking of awards – Save the Date for the Libraries Award Reception on May 15, 2:30-3:30 p.m., in Foster (award ceremony) and Mann (reception).

I want to acknowledge that we are in some difficult days trying to make sense of Sabra Statham’s sudden passing. There really are no words, however, I did want to share some tributes we received recently. Dan Cohen of the Digital Public Library of America writes, “The DPLA family was devastated to hear that one of our Community Reps., Sabra Statham, passed away suddenly on Friday. Sabra was a digital project coordinator at Penn State and had joined the Reps program in 2014 as part of the second class. In the last year, she worked enthusiastically to represent DPLA in conversation with local Pennsylvania genealogy groups and in collaboration with her fellow Pennsylvania reps. She was multitalented: in addition to her innovative work in the library, she was an accomplished musician and a scholar of musical modernism. On a personal note, I met Sabra when I visited Penn State last year, and was enormously impressed with her and her many projects. She cared deeply about reaching a broader audience through digital means, and worked on many fronts towards that goal, including through DPLA. Recently Sabra was selected to receive a 2015 DPLA+DLF Cross-Pollinator Grant to attend DPLA Fest 2015. It’s hard for all of us to understand that she won’t be joining us in Indianapolis next month. Our thoughts and prayers are with Sabra’s friends and family.” We also received condolences from John A. Lupton who is president of the Association for Documentary Editing and executive director of the Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission.

LFO recently passed the Open Access Policy where we asserted that the faculty of Penn State Libraries is committed to disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. A news release announcing this was sent out and to date we have received kudos from a number of colleagues at other research libraries including Kent State and Texas A & M. The policy was also featured in Library Journal. Congratulations to all who were involved in developing the policy.

We are beginning onsite interviews for Associate Dean for Technology and Digital Strategies candidates. Please try to attend or view the upcoming forums and participate fully in evaluating these candidates for this critically important position.

By Barbara I. Dewey, dean, University Libraries and Scholarly Communications

Welcome back everyone! I hope you had a nice break. I bring greetings from about 50 alumni who attended the Naples, FL Penn State Alumni Meeting. I was their guest speaker and had the opportunity to let them know about the great things that are happening at Penn State Libraries at University Park and across the Commonwealth. They were excited.

We were successful in securing Joe Salem and Anne Langley for the associate dean positions. They both look forward to joining us. Dace Freivalds and her committee are back to work on the search for the Associate Dean for Technology and Digital Strategies. Hearty thanks to them for their hard work. Please let Dace know of potential candidates.

By Barbara I. Dewey, dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications

I am pleased to announce that sabbatical leaves for the following University Libraries faculty have been approved:

Anne C. Behler, associate librarian, information literacy librarian
To teach an online course and conduct research into online students’ informational skills and needs as well as developing methodology for building effective collaboration with online learning stakeholders.

Bill Brockman, librarian, Paterno Family Librarian for Literature
To compile and edit The Uncollected Correspondence of James Joyce, to be published by Oxford University Press in three volumes.

Dawn Childress, associate librarian, Kalin Librarian for Technological Innovation, humanities librarian for German and Slavic languages and literature, French, and Francophone studies
To explore research/pedagogical use cases of travel diaries and how digital humanities approaches can facilitate advanced scholarship/teaching in this context.

Gregory A. Crawford, librarian, director of Capital College Library, Penn State Harrisburg
To compile materials for a book on resources related to atheism, agnosticism, and non-belief

Russell A. Hall, associate librarian, reference librarian, Penn State Erie
To research information literacy in the workplace by conducting research interviews with recent graduates to determine what information literacy sources and tools they used and if the skills transferred from their undergraduate experience to the workplace.

Richard L. Hart, librarian, head librarian, Penn State Erie
To research the history of the residence known as Glenhill Farm, which has been the core building of Penn State Erie since 1948, centering on the dealing of the owners of Glenhill Farm, Ernst and Mary Behrend and the prominent Philadelphia architect, R. Brognard Okie.

Steven L. Herb, librarian, head of the Education and Behavioral Sciences Library
To travel to four of the world’s premiere children’s literature archives gathering research for an encyclopedic Miscellany to be published in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the first children’s literature imprint in America.

Glenn S. McGuigan, librarian, business/public administration librarian, Penn State Harrisburg
To explore social structure of the scholarly publishing system to better understand the networks between academic journals, scholars, and libraries.

By Barbara I. Dewey, dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications

Colleagues, we are getting ready for the very important associate dean candidate interviews. I know I can count on you to provide an excellent Penn State experience for each and every candidate. Thank you in advance for doing so. I also want to remind everyone that the searches are confidential and no information should be shared externally out of respect for the candidates and the process. These searches are time consuming but critical for us as we move to the next exciting era for Penn State Libraries. Let me or the search committee chairs know if you have questions at any point.

I just returned from a week of national meetings in Washington DC. Ben Goldman and I attended the APTrust Annual Meeting where work is underway to build a shared digital preservation infrastructure. I next attended the ARL Annual Meeting where I met many new directors of large research libraries. ARL is in the midst of a major turnover due to a large number of retirements. ARL is also in the process of developing a new strategic plan and a “rebranding” of the organization. Linda Friend attended the ARL Forum on monographic publishing. I also attended the first annual meeting of HathiTrust. Mike Furlough led the meeting in excellent fashion. HathiTrust now contains 12 million digital volumes. Penn State is considered a leader and important contributor in all of these organizations.

By Barbara I. Dewey, dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications

I hope you had a chance to attend or view Provost Nick Jones’ presentation related to strategic planning. You can see his slides at https://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/admin/intranet.html. The University Libraries plan (still in draft) is available in a brochure form with enough copies for all Libraries’ staff at all campus locations. Stop by 510 Paterno and pick up some copies or let Emma Davidson (emd21@psu.edu) know if you would like her to send some copies. The Provost is in the process of reading 47 plans and will come back to us with suggestions and a template so that unit plans have a similar format.

By Barbara I. Dewey, dean, University Libraries and Scholarly Communications

Fall is in full swing and I can’t wait for the Open House this week. We have about 200 more students on campus this fall and we’ll probably feel this increase this week and into the semester.

We bid Jack Sulzer a fond farewell last week and he is already missed! Let us know if you have any questions or need assistance in the interim. Lisa, Kimlyn, Rob, and I stand ready to help. The associate dean searches are in full swing and most are in the process of conducting phone interviews. Many thanks to the committees and Chairs, Ann Snowman, Tim Pyatt, and Dace Freivalds for their fine work thus far.

I received a report from the Office of Annual Giving and I wanted to share some good news. University Libraries is up in both dollars and donors in FY14 compared to FY13. The increase in our overall giving dollars and number of donors was across all channels of Annual Giving including mail appeal, email appeal and telefund appeal. The University Libraries also hit both dollar (109.26%) and donor (100.86%) goals for FY14. This translates into $322,336 and 2,100 donors for this portion of our development effort. Congratulations to the development team and all of you who assisted and/or contributed in any way to this effort which is so important to meeting our library goals.

I hope you can attend (in some form) the Dean’s Forum on September 16, at 9 a.m., in Foster Auditorium featuring our Provost, Dr. Nick Jones. I know you will enjoy meeting him and hearing about his priorities. He’s also happy to answer questions.

By Barbara I. Dewey, Dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications

I know it has been a while since the last Dean’s News and the summer is flying by. I want to take this opportunity thank the Strategic Plan Steering Committee – Chris Avery, Erin Burns, Alan Shay, Nonny Schlotzhauer, Dawn Amsberry, Ann Thompson, John Meier and Lauren Reiter for their excellent work pulling our collective ideas together. I believe the Libraries’ Strategic Plan 2014-2019 will serve Penn State and the Libraries well over the next few years. A reminder that you can link to the plan at http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/admin/stratplan2014.html. We will be discussing implementation plans soon but Provost Jones confirmed that we should move ahead even though the unit plans may change somewhat during this calendar year when the university is developing the overall plan. I am pleased to say that Dr. Jones will be joining us at the September 16th Dean’s Forum (9 a.m. in Foster Auditorium and on MediaSite) to meet you and provide some remarks on Penn State’s strategic planning process. He is delighted to stand for questions about any topic after his remarks.

All three associate dean searches are underway. Position descriptions are posted and active recruitment has begun. A reminder that the search committee chairs include Ann Snowman, Associate Dean for Learning, Undergraduate Services, and the Commonwealth Campuses; Dace Freivalds for Associate Dean for Technology, Discovery, and Digital Services; and Tim Pyatt for Associate Dean for Research, Collections, and Scholarly Communications.

I was pleased to host President and Mrs. Barron on a visit to the Pattee and Paterno Libraries on August 5. They are avid readers and library enthusiasts and were excited to be in the library.

The University Park Libraries facilities master plan has been completed, and has been approved by the Penn State University administration, including the Provost, Sr VP for Finance and Business, as well as the Facilities Resources Committee.

The next step will be to develop a program statement for each of the ten Current Priorities. These program statements will consist of a description of the services that could be offered, identify potential partnerships, include technology needs, complete an external scan to include benchmarking, provide data to support the services, as well as incorporate what is happening at other places in the library, among other considerations. Working groups will be organized under the direction of an administrative steering committee and charged with developing the program statements based in large part on the action items determined in the space planning process that was completed in January 2013.

I hope you are enjoying the recent good weather. We had a very busy weekend at Penn State and in the library where we hosted the Library Development Board. University-wide numerous events were taking place to celebrate the successful end of the campaign – For the Future. I thought you might like to know about these general numbers announced over the weekend. Penn State received 2.1 million individual gifts totaling $2.157 billion exceeding the $2 billion goal. 600,000 people donated and 167,000 were Penn State alumni. Penn State faculty and staff donated $61 million. Vice President Rod Kirsch indicated only 12 universities have ever raised as much money in a campaign. The library was no exception blowing past our $40 million goal raising over $44 million to date (and we are not done yet!). Many thanks go to the Library Development Team – Nicki Hendrix, Marcus Fowler, Chris Brida, Karen McCaulley, and Shirley Davis for their tireless work. Of course we will continue raising funds for the library to meet our growing needs.

Penn State also celebrated the opening of the Census Research Data Center last week housed in Paterno Library Social Sciences Library. This important research facility will complement the Research Hub and its growing array of services. Over 160 researchers attended a two-day conference in honor of the opening. In particular, I would like to thank Stephen Woods and Lisa German for their efforts to attract the center to the library where it will be more accessible than any of the other 16 centers scattered throughout the country and the only one situated in a library. Ron Servello worked tirelessly with the various partners to make the needed renovations a success.

I invite you to join me for two upcoming events, a coffee on April 23, at 9:30 – 10:30 a.m., in Mann, honoring Mike Furlough before he leaves to take on the position of executive director, Hathi Trust. Also coming up on May 16, at 2:30 p.m., is the University Libraries Awards event. Mark your calendars for both. — Barbara I. Dewey, dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications

By Barbara I. Dewey, dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications

Colleagues, I hope you had a wonderful spring break. Now that we are back I wanted to share some information about our administrative transition process to address Mike Furlough’s departure and Jack Sulzer’s retirement. I shared this process so far with Dean’s Library Council and Library Faculty Organization.

I will review the portfolios of the associate deans to see if there are opportunities for adjustments to better support the library and our strategic directions. An important part of this will include a process of consultation which has already begun including with DLC, DSAC, LFO, department heads, and other key individuals and groups.

Additionally, a confidential survey will be set up to gather feedback from any and all faculty and staff using a set of questions along with an open space for comments. The Office of Institutional Assessment will administer the survey to ensure confidentiality. AD portfolios will be drafted and made available for review.

I will schedule a Dean’s Forum to discuss the draft portfolios and next steps. A national search will then be launched to fill the vacancies. Please let me know if you have any questions.

By Barbara I. Dewey, dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications

I recently returned from the American Library Association Mid-Winter Meeting in Philadelphia. Many Penn Staters were active participants in the meetings, boards, and committee work. I chaired the ACRL New Publications Committee. This committee is actively seeking book proposals of interest to ACRL constituents. Lisa German and I also attended the ARL January 23 regional design meeting hosted by Temple University. The regional design meetings are part of ARL’s strategic planning process and are being held to create a collaborative space for discussion about the future of the academic library and its place in higher education. This was a timely meeting given Penn State’s active engagement in strategic planning. I also attended the ARL Diversity and Leadership Program lunch and reception. Participants in the 2014 ARL Leadership Symposium included the Diversity Scholars, fellows from the 2014 Career Enhancement Program, and the ARL/SAA Mosaic Program. Mark Puente, director of ARL’s Diversity and Leadership Programs was the event host. Mark will be our Dean’s Diversity Forum speaker on February 24, at 1:30 p.m., in Foster Auditorium and on Media Site. I hope you can attend!

I also wanted you to know that Michael Adewumi, vice president for Penn State Global Programs and I have invited Barbara Ford, director of the Mortenson Center for International Librarianship and professor, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, to Penn State to help us develop strategies to support Penn State’s Global Engagement Network and global initiatives in general. Professor Ford will be meeting on February 3rd with Penn State Global Programs staff and a number of our faculty.

By Barbara I. Dewey, dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications

Happy New Year! 2014 is starting out with a bang for the University Libraries. We are on the cover of two magazines – State College (http://statecollegemagazine.com/) and The Penn Stater (http://pennstatermag.com/) with featured stories inside. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to these stories and especially to Catherine Grigor for making them happen.

I am pleased to announce that Interim Vice President for Research Neil Sharkey has agreed to place a library representative on the Research Council. Mike Furlough will take on this liaison role providing the Libraries with a seat at this very important table. Likewise Interim Dean of the Graduate School Regina (Jean) Vasilatos-Younken has agreed to have library representation on the Graduate Council Curriculum Committee. Eric Novotny will take on this role that will greatly enhance communication and information flow between the Grad School and the Libraries.

Spring Semester 2014 also brings the opening of two new centers both featuring important campus partnerships in the Pattee and Paterno Library complex. The Student Financial Education Center (SFEC) located in 309 Paterno Library (in the William and Joan Schreyer Business Library) will open later this month and is a partnership with the University Park Undergraduate Association and the University Libraries. Lauren Reiter provided important leadership in getting the center started. Additionally, the Census Research Data Center will open in the Research Hub later in the semester and is a partnership with the Social Sciences Research Institute. Look for more information on this center in the coming weeks.

We are, of course, engaged in strategic planning this semester. Look for opportunities to participate and links to resources as the semester rolls out. I know that we share Provost Jones’ vision to take Penn State to higher levels of excellence, innovation, and knowledge creation to improve the human condition. The library is at the heart of this vision.

I am pleased to announce that sabbatical leaves for the following University Libraries faculty have been approved:

Heidi N. Abbey, association librarian, archivist and humanities reference librarian, Penn State Harrisburg
To conduct research on the use of photo crowdsourcing best practices and platforms among cultural heritage institutions worldwide.
Dates of sabbatical leave: July 1 – August 31, 2014 and March 1 – June 30, 2015

John C. Attig, Distinguished Librarian, monograph cataloging librarian
To continue research on John Locke. Projected work includes creation of a web-accessible guide, creation of additional descriptions based on examination of manuscripts in other research institutions, and enhancement of the John Locke Chronology.
Dates of sabbatical leave: August 1, 2014 – January 31, 2015

John J. Meier, associate librarian, science librarian
To investigate the current organizational structure of American research libraries and the future plans of their directors to change librarian roles and the organization of their library units.
Dates of sabbatical leave: January 1 – June 30, 2015

Emily Rimland, associate librarian, Kalin Librarian for Learning Innovations, and information literacy librarian
To assess and enhance the information literacy skill digital badge system that is currently under development at Penn State.
Dates of sabbatical leave: September 1, 2014 – April 1, 2015

Karla M. Schmit, associate librarian, education librarian, and assistant director of the Pennsylvania Center For The Book
To conduct textual linguistics research using the A Few Good Women (AFGW) Oral History Transcripts housing the Penn State University Libraries Special Collections.
Dates of sabbatical leave: March 1 – August 31, 2014

Christopher H. Walker, associate librarian, serials cataloging librarian
To continue research already in progress on the publishing trade in 16th century France through travel to rare book collections in New York and Chicago.
Dates of sabbatical leave: September 3, 2014 – March 2, 2015

Congratulations and I know we all are looking forward to hearing more about your research in the future.

Colleagues, we are headed into one of the busiest couple of weeks of the year at all of our locations. Thank you in advance for your fantastic work supporting students who need you so much. Everyone in our wonderful library system contributes to their success as the clock ticks down. I am very proud of your efforts now and every day.

This is also the time to see friends and family. Whether you stay close to home or travel far please be safe and have a very wonderful holiday season. I know 2014 is going to be rewarding and fun. Best wishes for a very Happy New Year!!

By Barbara I. Dewey, dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications

I am pleased to announce three new advisory groups for the University Libraries. DSAC, the University Libraries Graduate Student Advisory Group and the University Libraries Undergraduate Student Advisory Group will provide additional avenues for ideas, consultation, and communication.

Dean’s Staff Advisory Council (DSAC). DSAC will meet with me periodically to discuss issues of importance to our staff. I will be relying on DSAC to bring forward topics and provide feedback on various initiatives. Anyone can bring issues to the attention of Council members. DSAC will meet quarterly. Many thanks to all who indicated an interest in serving.

Lisa German has initiated two student advisory groups — the University Libraries Graduate Student Advisory Group and the University Libraries Undergraduate Student Advisory Group. Both groups met for the first time over the past two weeks.

Tim Pyatt and I had the opportunity to celebrate President and Mrs. Erickson’s recent gift of the historic map of Centre County at a recent lunch. Their map previously hung in the Provost’s Office. Please take some time to see it hanging in the Eberly Family Special Collections Library.

Congratulations to recipients of the 25th anniversary “chair. Tracy Deitrich, Elaine Horner, Earl Houser, Steven Kress, and Bernice Whitehill were honored at a reception on Friday, November 8, 2013. We appreciate their dedicated service to Penn State!